Business groups sue SEC over Dodd-Frank rule

Several business groups aren’t happy with a new Dodd-Frank rule, and they’re taking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to court over it.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and two other groups filed suit yesterday against the SEC, challenging a new rule that would require oil, mining and gas companies to disclose any payments they make to foreign governments. In their suit, the business groups claim the SEC didn’t adequately weigh the cost and benefits of the new requirement.

"The rule as written would impose enormous costs on U.S. firms and put them at a competitive disadvantage against government-owned oil giants not subject to the rule," Jack Gerard, CEO of API, said in a statement. "Not only will the rule hurt the millions of Americans who own shares in oil and natural gas companies, it will also cost jobs and damage America's energy security by making it more difficult for U.S. firms to gain access to resources abroad."

Reacting to the suit on Wednesday, SEC spokesman John Nester defends the new rule. "We believe our legal interpretation and economic analysis are sound and we look forward to defending the rule that Congress directed us to write," he said in a statement.

Read more about this suit and the controversy surrounding it on Thomson Reuters.

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